Happy Holidays!
As the year comes to an end, looking back our family endured some things that we would have rather not. BUT, we still feel very blessed for all the good and wonderful things. We are looking forward to a new start in the new year!
We have been busy in the last few weeks and please excuse my absence, yes I can blog from my Droid, but like I said we've been busy! Whew!
Here's a few notes from the road, so far...
We officially left Missouri the first week of December. We spent the 3 following weeks in Illinois with family. A huge gigantic thank you to Grandma & Grandpa DeCap for lodging, and all that comes with putting us up! Lilly (our dog-ughter) traveled for the first time and did amazingly well. Going into the trip I decided I was not going to try to enforce Aiden's schedule, rather we've just been going with the flow. This cross country move would prove to be trying, yet well worth it all for our adventurous little family!
Not too long after making our way to IL, the snow began to fall. (And fall, and fall, and fall...) Being out in the country made for a beautiful setting and start to the holiday season. The first weekend we were home we gathered with family and the sisters and I had a Christmas cookie baking day. Luckily, the guys were all on hand to assist with quality control! It was so nice to see Aiden playing with his cousins now that he's old enough to keep up with them all. There are many times that we truly miss the chaos that being blessed with a large family brings!
A few days later, after another snowfall, Aiden bundled up and spent some time sledding with his cousins. His first sledding experience was a success and his cousins were such great helpers! A pizza and Lego night followed unexpectedly and fun was had by all. That weekend we made it to one of our nephews basketball games and Aiden spent some time at Grandma Na's house while the hubby and I were able to have a nice quiet adult conversation type lunch date and get some Christmas shopping done.
That weekend was also our Honkey (or Adam's sister)'s Birthday! (Sorry Sis, I didn't get you a special blog post made...I think you understand why!) Unfortunately the weather kept us from spending time with her on that day, but we were able to attend the Geneseo Christmas Walk with other family. We bundled up and made our way through part of the old victorian town and window shopped, checked out the museum, popped in and out of stores, took advantage of a few picture ops and ended the night with dinner, drinks and lots of laughs by the fireplace at a local restaurant. The next evening Aiden spent some time with his God Father and with the McCarty's having the always delicious chicken gumbo! It's something we've began looking forward to for the last few years.
Later that next week, we visited the village fire station. The hubby was a Hillsdale fire fighter prior to joining the Army and his brother has been for many years as well. Aiden really enjoyed exploring the trucks with Uncle Tony and even tried on his gear. It also snowed again that week and one morning while Papa was plowing out the lane with the tractor Aiden got to help. We got all bundled up and stomped and tromped around in the snow. Later that night we had dinner and movie night with the Trickey family. It was a perfect snowy night to have spaghetti and hang out on the couch with all the boys sharing a blanket watching a movie. Another busy weekend would soon be upon us, it would also be the last weekend at home with everyone. Friday night, we enjoyed one of our oldest nephew's Christmas concert at his school. He looked so handsome and sang very well. Saturday morning we would be up bright and early for Christmas at Nana and Kevin's house. We spent the day enjoying tacos and treats and like always, Nana had lots of presents for her little ones. Aiden received a very special Build-a-Bear that has a voice box in its had that when pressed he hears a special message from his Nana. Later that night, my hubby full filled his promise to his sister that if he was able to shoot a deer he would so she could stock her freezer. Together, with the help of his brother, he shot a doe and hug her in the morton building to be processed. With moving across the country and all, we were unfortunately unable to keep any of the meat for our selves! Sunday evening we also spent with family at Papa and Gigi's house for Christmas. It was nice to see cousins and aunts and uncles we don't see often enough and also for Aiden to get to hang out with his God Mother. We are so appreciative of everyone who makes the time to get together with us while we are "home."
We are also very appreciative of all the dinner invites we received! We received so many that we almost ran out of nights to eat with everyone who offered! Through this, Aiden was able to spend some time with his great-uncle Bunkie, great-grandma and grandpa Young, all of his grandparents, his friends Blake and Kai, his pseudo grandma Sherry, great-grandma and grandpa DeCap, all of cousins and aunts and uncles, as well as Michelle and Matt DeCap. I feel like I must have forgotten someone, but Thanks again to everyone! I was just as hard as it always is to have to leave but we needed to keep moving forward on this new adventure and what felt like all too soon, it was time to go.
We were looking forward very much to where we would be going though, our next stop would be to Denver, Colorado for a visit with some of our closest "Army family"the Marcelli's! More fun on our time here in Denver to follow...
Until Then...
Em & The Boys
Later that next week, we visited the village fire station. The hubby was a Hillsdale fire fighter prior to joining the Army and his brother has been for many years as well. Aiden really enjoyed exploring the trucks with Uncle Tony and even tried on his gear. It also snowed again that week and one morning while Papa was plowing out the lane with the tractor Aiden got to help. We got all bundled up and stomped and tromped around in the snow. Later that night we had dinner and movie night with the Trickey family. It was a perfect snowy night to have spaghetti and hang out on the couch with all the boys sharing a blanket watching a movie. Another busy weekend would soon be upon us, it would also be the last weekend at home with everyone. Friday night, we enjoyed one of our oldest nephew's Christmas concert at his school. He looked so handsome and sang very well. Saturday morning we would be up bright and early for Christmas at Nana and Kevin's house. We spent the day enjoying tacos and treats and like always, Nana had lots of presents for her little ones. Aiden received a very special Build-a-Bear that has a voice box in its had that when pressed he hears a special message from his Nana. Later that night, my hubby full filled his promise to his sister that if he was able to shoot a deer he would so she could stock her freezer. Together, with the help of his brother, he shot a doe and hug her in the morton building to be processed. With moving across the country and all, we were unfortunately unable to keep any of the meat for our selves! Sunday evening we also spent with family at Papa and Gigi's house for Christmas. It was nice to see cousins and aunts and uncles we don't see often enough and also for Aiden to get to hang out with his God Mother. We are so appreciative of everyone who makes the time to get together with us while we are "home."
We are also very appreciative of all the dinner invites we received! We received so many that we almost ran out of nights to eat with everyone who offered! Through this, Aiden was able to spend some time with his great-uncle Bunkie, great-grandma and grandpa Young, all of his grandparents, his friends Blake and Kai, his pseudo grandma Sherry, great-grandma and grandpa DeCap, all of cousins and aunts and uncles, as well as Michelle and Matt DeCap. I feel like I must have forgotten someone, but Thanks again to everyone! I was just as hard as it always is to have to leave but we needed to keep moving forward on this new adventure and what felt like all too soon, it was time to go.
We were looking forward very much to where we would be going though, our next stop would be to Denver, Colorado for a visit with some of our closest "Army family"the Marcelli's! More fun on our time here in Denver to follow...
Until Then...
Em & The Boys
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